The Nature of Business in a Bank: Services, Customers, and Employees

 Services are intangible and will tend to have some form of implications, especially relating to quality assurance. Customers are not able to rate the quality of intangibles in advance. Customers have to undergo the service to rate the quality afterwards. Implications resulting from the intangibility render service marketing an expert task. The implications of intangibility in a banking setup are quite a few. Firstly, just as mentioned, assessing the quality of service is difficult. For a customer, they would have to rely on subjective impressions and rely less on concrete evidence. It explains why customers can only asses the quality of service after they have experienced it. Secondly, in part of the bank management, prescribing the standards of quality in service for bank personnel to implement for customers is difficult. In a contrary situation, where a business is dealing with a tangible product, the quality assurance department can inform their personnel that the product cannot leave unless it meets certain standards. Thirdly, intangibility of a bank service implies that the customer has to have faith in the bank employee providing the service. The customer also has to go by trust when assessing the quality of the service provided. In the aspect of ensuring a competitive edge, the bank cannot patent the kind of service it offers. Therefore, in conclusion, the intangibility implications make it difficult to assure quality and ensure customer satisfaction in banking. 

Key Processes in Supply Chain Management 

The objective of supply chain management in the banking industry is to integrate all the activities performed by members in the supply chain with a bid to coordinate it into a seamless process from the point it leaves the source to the time it reaches the consumer. The challenge still is turning an intangible service into an almost tangible product, considering it under the process of supply chain management is also daunting. When supply chain management is performed well, it reflects a total customer-oriented management viewpoint (Lamb & Hair, 2018). The notion relegates the assumption that services are made then shoved down the customer’s throat. Customer consumption revolves around customized products. It means that the first key process for supply chain management should be customer relationship management. Other processes include supplier relationship management, customer service management, and order fulfillment, demand management, manufacturing flow management, returns management, service development and commercialization. It is important to remember that bank services are intangible and therefore not all processes in supply chain management apply. In the bank, the key processes are customer relations management and customer service management. The processes are executed by front office personnel or at least anyone who comes into contact with the customer. Customer relations revolve around solving their problems in the bank and building a good relationship with them. Customer experience is more about the kind of experience the customer get from bank services. The key processes are under the Customer Experience and Relations manager. Another critical process is service development and commercialization. It is tasked with the identification of a need by consumers and developing a service in line with the customer need. After identification, the service is developed and commercialized before realizing to the customer. Sometimes, the bank has to implore supplier relations management when trying to introduce non-bank services to consumers. For instance, consumers paying their utility bills through the bank. The bank benefits by charging a commission. 

How it increases customer satisfaction 

When a relationship is built with the customer, they feel that they are part of the business and that the business cares about them. The customer no longer looks at the bank as an entity providing a service for monetary gain. They view the bank as family which leads to customer satisfaction. Customer experience is all about customer satisfaction. Ensuring the customer receives the required service in a manner that is tailored for them leads to satisfaction. For example, using the clients' name while addressing them facilitates a personalized service. Supplier relations management helps in assuring the customer gets good no-bank services thus increasing customer satisfaction. 

The function of Warehouse/wholesale Clubs 

A wholesale club is an entity that sells large-scale products at a lower price with the buyer’s intent to go and resell. The bank can be considered as a warehouse for certain services although the consumer is not intended to resell the service. Banks can charge a membership fee annually to be a member of a group who would receive better service at a discounted fee. The function of warehousing in banking is to offer customized, improved services to those in membership. In such a scenario, the bank can be termed as a wholesale club as well as a retailer because they still serve non-member customers at normal price. 

Reference 

Lamb, C., & Hair, J. M. (2018). MKTG12 Principals of Marketing (12 ed.). Cengage Learning.